Boys, Boys, Boys!

   We now have three boys living in the house, not including the hubs.  Chloe and I are out numbered.  We have been taken over by blue, and footballs, basketballs, toy cars and planes.  Sports talk and extra energy run rampant throughout this house now.  An increased grocery bill to boot.
But somehow it fits.

  We took in another child a couple weeks ago.  Victor, he is 10yrs old.  It was something that came out of no where. We had been matched with a 3yr old boy before Christmas & were waiting to learn more about him & were asked what our interest in future placements would be. We said, a girl roughly 10-11 or even a small sib group with an older girl. The phone call we got later that week was regarding Victor.  The current foster home he was in could no longer keep him for complicated reasons. So we had about an hour to decide if we would take him. 

  As I stood there in my office with Trav telling me all about this boy, good kid, good student, mom has issues, dad has fallen off the face of the earth, I prayed. I asked God if this was the best fit for us both & to protect this young man as he moved homes once again. So we agreed, my co-workers cheered and laughed because we are a tiny bit crazy. 

  As soon as we got home & we moved Ethan's crib into Kayden's room & the love seat that was once in Kaydens room into what had been an office, guest room & then baby room. Amazing how a room is just a box & can be transformed so easily. Now it was to be a 10 yr olds room.   We made it as comfy as we could on short notice.  The next evening Trav went to CYFD and picked him up.  I felt nervous, we hadn't even so much as seen a picture of him let alone knew anything about him but he was about to be in our home.  I thought how strange this all is, this young man could become our son and how odd it felt to wait for his arrival.  So we tried to make it a fun night.  I ordered pizza from a local place, Mario's because they can do gluten free and no cheese for my special eater Kayden.  But apparently in my haste to rush out the door at work and get pizza, pick up the little ones and get home I ordered the biggest pizza possible.  I mean this thing barely fit in the car.  It was a good ice breaker for sure and a fun memory to look back on.

  Once Trav got him home we unloaded his things from the car, tiny treasures and memories he had carried with him over the course of two years.  We showed him his room and reassured him we would make it into his own space, get rid of the comforter and books and let him put up his things.  He was happy to just have his own room, something he had never experienced before.  It saddens me to think in his short 10yrs all things he has seen and been through and has been able to remain a pretty normal kid.  He has had to be the parent and worries about things his brain can't even begin to understand.  So our job is to let him be a kid, let him experience things and enjoy life.

  So as time has gone by he started a new school and has done well adjusting.  He started playing basketball, something he had never done before. And we opened up a wall in his room to expose a closet that was covered up by the previous owner, luckily it still had the shelf and bar and cedar lining.  This thing is huge! And with time Victor has opened up to us.  We are lucky he is such a good kid, definitely still some work to be done to help him process everything but over all no issues.  He is great with the pets and the little kids.  He and Chloe have hit it off and joke and talk and she already refers to him as her brother and he helps her feed the animals.

  Seeing our home fill up is amazing.  We may not have birthed all these kiddos but they are ours non the less.  God has blessed us immensely and we will continue to pray for his guidance and will in all these situations.

Bacon

  Our pig, lovingly named Bacon.  We had her for over a year.   We got her with intention of raising her for meat, so we always knew that this day would come.  I had mixed feelings for sure, I didn't love her, she wasn't soft and cuddly or sweet.  She was in ever aspect a PIG, she snorted and rooted and escaped from her pen and knocked against you while we were trying to feed her or give her straw for bedding.  She smelled and at one point got mud so caked on her tail I had to take a Benchmade and amputate part of it.  

  No one said having animals was easy.  No one said it is fun.  The day I had to "fix" her tail was not fun, Travis was still gone, Chloe was helping me try to get the mud off and it just wasn't working.  The boys were napping so time was limited.  So ankle deep in mud I made a decision.  It had to just come off.  She didn't even make a peep and with one quick swipe it was done.  Yes, there was blood but she was able to swing her tail once again and didn't seem to mind.  Chloe on the other hand was a bit green when all was said and done.

  Then the day finally came where everyones schedules lined up and Bacon was to meet her end.  The Friday before we researched and prepped and that morning we set up tables and a heater for the garage getting ready for the day.  I have never witnessed anything being killed. I never grew up with a family that hunted.  But, I am not naive enough to think my meat comes from the grocery store in a pretty plastic package, I know what happens to get it there.  We had a wonderful team that day.  A friend from work and her husband and 3 sons and daughter-in-law come out along with another friend and couple teenage boys curious as to what exactly would happen. 

  I had not planned on being out there in the beginning, I didn't know if I could handle it and Chloe had said she didn't want to be out there either.  But things moved fast and as it happened we were.  It was strange.  To see her no longer alive.  I would like to say it was fast but the body doesn't just stop, there are nerve firings and things that must happen that make muscles jerk.  I still have feelings of sadness, not that I miss her but just the feelings of respect that comes from something giving it's life so that you can sustain yours.  It is a sober thought for sure.

  The ladies went inside and let the men and boys handle the front end of the operation.  We made laundry soap and fire starters and joked about our pioneer style day on the farm.  It was a beautiful day outside and really just a great time with friends.  

  I did eventually wonder outside, out of pure curiosity.  I have taken anatomy classes, actually had a fetal pig we had to dissect and keep in a bucket of formaldehyde - it came home with me once.  I see blood at work - I am not squeamish by any means, but it still seemed odd.  As I came into the barn there she was no longer looking like I had once known her and then I was handed a liver.  From that point on things went fast, everyone was in the garage and the guys made work of the meat.  I walked out to the barn and a team was busy at work with cleaning up the "evidence" of what had just taken place out there.  Things were rinsed and shoveled and raked and buried.  Little to no signs remained.

  We got sausage and hams and bacon and tenderloins.  There was a great rhythm going.  Things were cut and passed to either me, the bagger and vacuum sealer or to Kim and her son who cut it into smaller pieces so it could be handed off to Tim who was in charge of the grinder.  Then once things were sealed and a pile formed we took turns running it to the freezer.  We were done in 4 1/2 hours start to finish.  Everyone helped with clean up.  Couldn't have asked for a better day.  

  When all was done we set down and enjoyed pizza and conversation, worn out from the day.  We sent our wonderful helpers off with meat, eggs, laundry soap and fire starters.  A true mountain day.

  

A New Year

 This past year has been a whirlwind to say the least.  Changes all around.  If someone would have told me last year at this time what 2013 would hold I would have laughed.  New additions to the farm, hand injury, 14 yrs married, becoming foster parents and adding 2 boys to our family, going through a last minute deployment and now Chloe being a teenager.  It all seems surreal.

  It is always amazing to me to see how much you can grow over the course of a year.  Learn something new, over come heart ache, take on new challenges.  We have done that this year for sure.  Dealt with family strife, learning about our animals and how to better take care of them, gardening for the first time on a large scale.  Even just having Kayden and Ethan in our home has been a learning experience.

 I have absolutely no clue when it comes to boys.  I have one sister, grew up with girl cousins, yes I had guy friends growing up but never paid attention to what made them tick.  Watching Kayden come out of is shell and start to "grow up", for lack of better term, into an actual 4yr old boy who can communicate and convey his needs and wants and what he doesn't want has been wonderful and odd at the same time.  Trying to decipher what is normal little boy behavior as opposed to the possible signs of autism his workers claimed he has or just the result of years of neglect has been hard.  Along with his special diet of no Gluten or Dairy and when Travis was on the other side of the world I was left asking co-workers and friends, "Is this normal?"

  Now, let's take Ethan, he is a healthy little guy with a healthy appetite and is now moving around pretty well.  He is a mess, getting into things and knowing he is not supposed to.  Again boys!  He actually started climbing up on the hearth around our wood burning stove and after being removed a couple times and telling him no he finally got the picture and actually put himself in timeout.  Now, I couldn't help but laugh, where he couldn't see me of course.  But I had asked him "do you need to sit down?" and he walks over to Kayden's time out corner and sits down.  Boys!

  Marriage, 14 years to be exact.  We have had ups and downs and way downs and ups again.  Today I am proud to say we made it through so very tough times.  God has been good to us and I am excited to see what 2014 holds.